Tom Tykwer has made three films about couples as social outcasts, and I think it's time he moved on to something else. Teaming up Cate Blanchett and Giovanni Ribisi as the lovers must be one of the bigger mis-matches in film history. Although in real life she's only five years his senior, in "Heaven" she seems old enough to be his mother. Worse, the dialog between them is so limited, I got no sense that they were in love. And speaking of dialog, if Giovanni Ribisi, born in L.A., is going to play Italians, he needs to be coached in correct Italian pronunciation. His vowels are too closed. Open wide for an 'Aaah', Giovanni.
While the first 45 min. of the film generate a certain amount of smooth suspense, once the plot leaves the interrogation format the film falls apart. In the print I saw, the Tuscany countryside is overexposed as orange and ugly. Sad music invites us to feel for the two renegades, but I couldn't feel much of anything. And who, in the end, ratted on them to the police? This is never explained, and as their helicopter soars up into heaven, I wanted the film to get down to earth and take care of unfinished business.
While the first 45 min. of the film generate a certain amount of smooth suspense, once the plot leaves the interrogation format the film falls apart. In the print I saw, the Tuscany countryside is overexposed as orange and ugly. Sad music invites us to feel for the two renegades, but I couldn't feel much of anything. And who, in the end, ratted on them to the police? This is never explained, and as their helicopter soars up into heaven, I wanted the film to get down to earth and take care of unfinished business.